Any guitar players out there?

[Darkwood]

Way off tangent to normal forum talk but just going through a mid life crisis and 25yrs of seeing bands etc ive decided to take up learning to play a guitar. Bought an acoustic steal guitar and im going through the pain barrier at the moment learning the chords but determination is high as i live and socialize around music so just been nosey anyone starting out or experienced?

 

[High Tower]

First picked up a guitar 21 years ago , play more bass now than anything else

 

[High Tower]

My babies

 

[derek]

Got my first guitar 25 years ago and I am still learning, I'm hoping if I continue at my current rate I'll be able to play well by the time I'm 70. I'm learning BB King style blues and Andalusian Classical at the mo. I remember the finger contortions required when beginning though, apparently little short practice sessions but very often is best when learning.

 

[Darkwood]

Im at present putting in a fair few hours practice using You Tube teaching vids (very indepth and easy to follow i find)... just waiting for the muscle memory to kick in and my fingers take the position and move in automatic...got it with a few chords so far but yep the harder chords need more time.

 

[High Tower]

It will most likely not be your taste, but learn a couple of oasis tunes!!, easy to learn and you can normally get the whole song learnt in a couple of hours as a beginner

 

[Darkwood]

I know I should put my personal views aside but I really detest Oasis with a passion and it will not find its way on to my guitar again ( Frikin mate played it when I showed him it :evil2 .... people learnt guitar long before Oasis trashed the music scene so M sticking to my guns on that sore point .

My target music style will be classical with the well known likes of pieces like 'memories of the Alhambra' and 'Spanish Romance' but going to gigs for 25yrs I would like to play various styles but know its going to be many yrs before I can throw out some good finger picking :beatnik:



The new addition to my family

 

[High Tower]

I understand your feelings mate, but what you need to do is learn so easy tunes.

I can play classical gas well but took me as an experienced player, 3 months to learn it fully. Don't set your sights too high or frustration will set in

 

[Darkwood]

Im already strumming easy tunes and Im usually a very patient but determined guy so frustration should not creep in most of my hobbies are very time labouring and require many many hours input to achieve a good output albeit it small sometimes...I do art pencil drawings too when I feel the mood.. so chucking yrs of repeated practice should not be an issue and yes I know it could be an age before Im happy at my output.. Im aiming to be quite nifty by 50yrs old thats 8yrs away in old money ... then Ill look into the classical styles.

 

[High Tower]

You want challenging try anything by knopfler

 

[Darkwood]

You want challenging try anything by knopfler

Thats next week ... yes Im a big fan of his work love 'private investigations' amongst many of his tracks; I bought that album on vinyl as a kid.

 

[High Tower]

Sailing to Philadelphia is unbelievably hard, it's the subtle detail that's hard to master

 

[GMES]

Here's my Baby










The best Air Guitar money can buy.

 

[Darkwood]

Here's my Baby










The best Air Guitar money can buy.

I had one for 25yrs but lost it ... looked a bit like yours TBH

 

[GMES]

I had one for 25yrs but lost it ... looked a bit like yours TBH

Bloody good reply, Made me chuckle
But on a serious note, good on you for taking the plunge.

 

[Darkwood]

Just the fact I've lived around music, gigs and I have a lot of friends in bands so kinda getting influenced in every direction and needed a hobby to master and Im patient and a determined .... and I've just purchased a very rare 'Pic of Destiny' .... my boozy bud Jack Black gave me it

 

[Marvo]

.....Bought an acoustic steal guitar

My target music style will be classical .... I would like to play various styles but know its going to be many yrs before I can throw out some good finger picking

I'd recommend you buy yourself a cheap and cheerful classical guitar with nylon strings. The wider neck and the softer action strings make it easier to learn on and it's much better suited for finger picking as well. The steel string acoustics can be used for finger picking but they're better suited to a pick/plectrum.

 

[High Tower]

I'd recommend you buy yourself a cheap and cheerful classical guitar with nylon strings. The wider neck and the softer action strings make it easier to learn on and it's much better suited for finger picking as well. The steel string acoustics can be used for finger picking but they're better suited to a pick/plectrum.

Marvo has sausage fingers lol

 

[Dcf]

My best pearl of wisdom to anybody who wants to play the guitar is buy a tuner!
standard tuning is fine ,never mind with some alternative turnings which are prelavent in finger picking styles btw at the moment.
if your guitar is out of tune it will sound rubbish and if your learning you'll lose heart and put it away.
i don't seem to have the time just now to play which ticks me off as I still love a good belt on the guitar.
had a wee drunken jam with the oldest one on Saturday and it's got musical appetite back tbh.
i was at a job last week and managed to amaze the painter by getting a tune out of a harp
now not many people have one of them lying about the lounge!
looked a bugger to tune though....

 

[trev]

I've been playing since I was 8 and have just added a Scheckter to my collection. I'm also delving into classical pieces and I have to say that the nylon stringed suggestion above is probably the best advice you'll get.
Nylon strings are much better suited to the pieces you'll be attempting.
Also, if you can't read tablatrure get hold of one of the "how to" guides, there's a shed load of them out there on the net. You'll be surprised how easy tab is once you get your head around it. There are also guides on how to learn to read music notation.

 

[Darkwood]

Cheers for the feedback but Ive spent my brass now so steel is staying and im having the normal learning curves but picking it up quickly, I can now change between some chords with a high success rate and quickly but still need to learn a few chord swaps ...picked my mates guitar up yesterday in pub and he's says im picking it up very fast considering I only started learning Saturday never played or had any instrument and after 1 day I was changing albeit easy chords at a good rate.... Ive booked a gig for next month

 

[Marvo]

Good luck with the gig, I'm already looking forward to the podcast

You should be able to pick up a cheap nylon stringed classical guitar for probably 20-30 quid max. Just find a place that sells chinese imports and spend an afternoon playing a couple of dozen of them until you find one that sounds okay. Alternatively buy a second hand one, you'll find loads on Gumtree and ebay, it will be money well spent I can assure you. I only play classical nowadays, I originally learned classical guitar and I migrated to steel string for a while, now I'm back to classical again...and yes, my fingers are somewhat sausage HT

Buying an electronic tuner is also a good idea, I have a Crafter TG-200N which is probably 6 years old and has worked great for me.

 

[Darkwood]

Sadly there has been a cancellation to my gig due to the fact I've just been introduced to the F - chord ..WTF!!!!! .... I feel utterly let down, i was not warned about this chord ...bugger!:banghead:

Due to my findings I've delayed my by 1 year as I don't want to go out a semi-god but the god of the Guitar!!!!...

Hail Darkwood!!!.... If you play it, they shall come!

 

[singingfraggle]

cheat play the lazy f .you cant let the masses down. think of the merchandise revenue

 

[shanky887614]

Sadly there has been a cancellation to my gig due to the fact I've just been introduced to the F - chord ..WTF!!!!! .... I feel utterly let down, i was not warned about this chord ...bugger!:banghead:

Due to my findings I've delayed my by 1 year as I don't want to go out a semi-god but the god of the Guitar!!!!...

Hail Darkwood!!!.... If you play it, they shall come!

E A D G B E even I know that and I play flute.

 

[Darkwood]

E A D G B E even I know that and I play flute.

You lost me ... yes they are the string order too, Im on about playing chords! :shocked3: a lot are quite simple to get your finger toplay but the F - chord is the Biatching mother of hard ones to get you fingers around

 

[trev]

DW, if you can cope with a C chord with your third finger on the G on the low E string you can get used to F by simply moving your 2nd 3rd and 4th fingers across one string.
Try it mate, try grabbing that C and then moving back and forth between C and F. You'll get used to it in no time at all.
Wait till you get on to the really tricky ones, that's when you really learn what pain is. By that time it's too late though, the drug has well and truly got you addicted and only another fix will do

 

[Marvo]

Yeah, the F's a killer but once you've mastered it then you can slide it up the neck and you get a G, A, B etc all for free. I'll give you some advice, guitar playing is all about cheating if you try do it by the book you'll get nowhere fast, cheat and cheat some more and you'll go far.

 

[Darkwood]

They cheated on top of the pops ...look where they are now lol.... Yep vids im watching do show you the tricks of the trade but still would like to get it the right way too.... its just adds to the patience I need which fine by me.

 

[shanky887614]

there is a cheat to tuning as well, if you press (third fret down if I remember correctly)

on the string above it sounds like the one below it so its easy to check.

just wait till ya start tuning your guitar to a specific key

 

[trev]

there is a cheat to tuning as well, if you press (third fret down if I remember correctly)

on the string above it sounds like the one below it so its easy to check.

That'll be the 5th fret mate unless you're tuning the B string when the fret on the G is the 4th

 

[PEM]

Classically trained double bass player and used to play bass in a group some years ago (well nearly 30!). Always fancied acoustic guitar have one but hands my size no chance. Good for you taking it up. Lots of useful stuff on YouTube and free apps for phone re tuning etc.

 

[shanky887614]

That'll be the 5th fret mate unless you're tuning the B string when the fret on the G is the 4th

I know a little about guitar but I prefer flute, now an open holes flute is hard

 

[Darkwood]

Got a clip on Electronic tuner with display output works a treat all for less than a tenner ...until my ears are receptive to the specific notes anyway.

 

[trev]

I know a little about guitar but I prefer flute, now an open holes flute is hard

Plus, it's not really a cheat. It's called relative tuning.

 

[High Tower]

Plus, it's not really a cheat. It's called relative tuning.

I always knew it as drop tuning, was the only way to do it when I first started as I couldn't afford a tuner!.

Only issue is that your assuming that the top E is in !

 

[trev]

I always knew it as drop tuning, was the only way to do it when I first started as I couldn't afford a tuner!.

Only issue is that your assuming that the top E is in !

Drop tuning in my world is when you drop your E string to D. I bought a pedal a few weeks ago that you can programme in any kind of tuning you want, hit the button and tune away and they're all there.
I'm having some MASSIVE adventures with me guitars just now.

 

[shanky887614]

Drop tuning in my world is when you drop your E string to D. I bought a pedal a few weeks ago that you can programme in any kind of tuning you want, hit the button and tune away and they're all there.
I'm having some MASSIVE adventures with me guitars just now.

its more fun when you get your ear in, you can listen to something then play it after a while, other times you are trying to play off a score/tabs etc and realise its wrong so you change it and it sounds right


(typo)

 

[Chr!s]

When I started to learn,what helped me out a lot was learning the chord voicings, also the shapes of the notes along the fret, so you could find the sane note by moving the shape up or down the fret.


Chris

 

[djw]

I'd recommend you buy yourself a cheap and cheerful classical guitar with nylon strings. The wider neck and the softer action strings make it easier to learn on and it's much better suited for finger picking as well. The steel string acoustics can be used for finger picking but they're better suited to a pick/plectrum.

Serious questions...

Is a nylon strung guitar quieter than steel strung and are cheapish left handed versions easily found?